EDITED: 3/19/2012 Cleaned stuff up, changed a rather large portion of the dialogue.

EDITED: 5/23/2012 Very minor stuff.

EDITED: 7/16/2012 More minor stuff.


The Devil's Queen

Chapter 2

Excella stared holes at the glossy screen of her computer, all the while resisting the urge to shove her fist through the monitor. She hated them. She hated those aristocratic bigots and their mocking words, their artificial politeness and their phony smiles. She hated them so fucking much it took all of her mental strength to abstain from bashing in their faces with a sledgehammer every single time they opened their repulsive mouths to ridicule her.

She's just a Gionne, they would say with a dismissive wave of a hand. She'll never succeed. Excella let out a frustrated hiss as the words echoed mockingly in her mind. In a fit of anger, she reached out and slammed the screen of her laptop down, shutting away the e-mail and all the maddening thoughts it had brought to the surface of her mind.

She leaned forward on her desk and rubbed her temple tiredly with one hand. It had been almost two weeks since Stanton had attempted to kidnap her, and two weeks since she'd met him. Excella hadn't heard a word from Albert, despite his promises, and she was beginning to believe that she'd been duped. Perhaps this whole fiasco was just another carefully crafted plot to ruin her career. After all, it had happened before. Several times.

Leaning back on her office chair, she stared dully down at the work space in front of her. Beyond the edge of her cluttered desk, she could see the researchers through the window, scurrying around like mice in the main laboratory below the office. There was a full length, glass pane on the wall there that overlooked the entire facility, installed so that she could spot the lazy employees who were wasting Tricell's research grants. Next to the window was a white door that led out to the hallway. It was closed shut at the moment, to keep out the noise of the bustling lab.

I need a cigarette, she thought to herself with a sigh. Excella reached down toward a drawer on the side of her desk, her bracelets piling down to her wrist with a familiar jangle. Unlocking the drawer, she roughly shoved aside folders and files to reveal a pack lying on the bottom of the container.

Her fingers had just barely brushed the cigarettes when she heard a voice in front of her.

"Bad day?"

Excella straightened up like a jack-in-the-box, the pack dropping carelessly to the carpeted floor beneath her. The man sat in the visitor chair directly across her desk, hunched over with his elbows on his knees and a smug smile planted on his lips. He was wearing a black duster that fell down to his ankles and his gloved hands were intertwined delicately below his chin. Behind him, Excella could see the door to her office swinging gently on its hinges.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she said. One of her hands was clasped nervously to her chest, where she could feel her heart rattling beneath her ribcage.

"Enjoying what?" he asked, two golden eyebrows arched innocently upwards.

"Sneaking up on people," Excella muttered. She bent over to grab the cigarettes off the floor, but her hands were shaking so much that she promptly dropped them again. She spat an impolite phrase before snatching up the elusive box in a clenched fist.

"You seem stressed."

Although the man's eyes were hidden by his ever present sunglasses, Excella could still feel them locked on to her, tracking her every move.

"That's an understatement," she hissed through gritted teeth. She sat up with the cigarettes in one hand and slammed them onto the table so hard that the paper box broke and several sticks shot out. "It's practically impossible to get any real research done when you have a bunch of bigots trying to revoke your animal testing license."

"Animal testing? I assume that includes human subjects?"

"In our line of work, when doesn't it?" Excella said with a wry smile. She absent mindedly picked out a cigarette on the desk and twirled it between her fingers. "There are a group of elitists in Tricell who would rather have a dog run a research facility than woman, especially one from the Gionne family. They're intent on getting me out of the game, but they're too cautious to have me killed. So they opt for dirty tactics, like sabotaging my research and bombarding me with legal documents." She spat out the last word forcefully.

"But you'll…'show them,' won't you?" he said, quoting her words from their last meeting.

"Even if I die trying."

"Then I suppose you'll find this very useful in your endeavors."

He pulled out a small, rectangular USB stick from his coat pocket and tossed it lightly over to Excella, who caught it smoothly with one pale hand. She shot him a questioning glance before looking down at the item in her palm.

"An Umbrella logo. How quaint." she said dryly as she held the drive between her index finger and thumb. "Did you steal this?"

"It was a company gift."

Excella raised a delicate eyebrow, but didn't question him. She inserted the USB into the side of her laptop and turned it back on. It hummed slowly to life, beeping as it started up.

"You're Albert…Wesker, correct?" she said cautiously, sneaking a glance at his face to see the man's reaction. He barely twitched.

"Impressive. You're well informed."

"Well, there aren't too many ex-Umbrella employees walking around who're tall, blond, and named Albert. I did some digging in Tricell's database, came up with a few pictures of you from the nineties. The shades thing—" Excella waved her fingers in front of her eyes, "—was a dead giveaway. However, all the official documents state that you are deceased. 'Perished on July 24, 1998, in an experimental accident.'"

"I guess I missed the funeral." He flashed a cold smile as he stood up from his chair and walked over to the glass window on the wall, his back to her.

The computer was fully awake now. She opened the USB folder, and started to flick through the files on the drive. The first few were uninteresting: mundane research laboratory reports and the usual test result data. But it wasn't long before her eyes began to widen with amazement and she found herself leaning in toward the words on the screen, mouth agape.

"Mio dio. How did you get this information?"

Her initial shock was beginning to wane, however, and a slow, exhilarating feeling of triumph was beginning to take over as she began to process what exactly she had in her hands. There were files on every possible B.O.W. that Tricell had, and hundreds more on creatures she had never even heard of before. There were research logs of all Umbrella facilities, and detailed information on the viruses, their creation, their strengths, and their weaknesses. The T-Virus, the G-Virus, the T-Veronica, the Progenitor, Las Plagas…the list went on. Excella felt her head swirling under the mass of knowledge and it took all her mental determination to tear herself away from the screen and look up at Wesker, who hadn't budged from his spot.

"This is incredible," she said. "These viruses…do you..?"

"…have samples of them?" he finished, without bothering to turn around. "I do. I collected them myself."

"Incredible. And the other virus…the one inside of you?"

Wesker's head snapped around so quickly that Excella was sure he must have tapped into some of his inhuman speed. Even from beneath the sunglasses, she could feel his gaze drilling into her, so sharp that she immediately regretted opening her mouth. Must be a sensitive topic, she thought to herself.

"It's not important," she said as smoothly as possible, turning away and busying herself by reading the files on her screen. "This is more than an enough data. I doubt even the highest officials in Tricell have access to this information."

"I keep my promises. However, I'll need something in return."

Excella looked up cautiously from her lap top. Of course. There was a catch. There was no way he'd give her so much without asking for some type of payment. Perhaps it is my soul, she thought jokingly to herself. Excella dear, have you followed in Faust's footsteps and sold yourself to the devil?

"And that is?"

Wesker gestured toward the lab below the office. "Give me direct control of the research here. Don't worry," he added when he saw Excella furrow her thin eyebrows together. "It'll be productive research. Something that you'll be able to use to get the attention of the Tricell leaders."

"If that's the case, do whatever pleases you."

She didn't mind handing over the research to someone else; after all, it wasn't like she would have any time to personally look over the facility. With the knowledge that she had just gained, she'd have her hands full just maneuvering through Tricell's corporate jungle and placing herself on the top.

"However, you won't be able to do much at the moment," she added. She stood up from her chair and strolled over next to the blond man, her stiletto heels punching holes into the old, crushed carpet beneath her feet. "Remember? The lab's animal testing license has been revoked. The whole place has been on a standby the past few weeks."

"Who's been revoking it?"

"Adrian Moretti. He's one of Tricell's top legal advisors. He's also a sexist bigot that hates my existence. Unfortunately, he's clever and has a lot of connections in the company. As much as I hate to admit defeat, I don't think there's much we can do about him."

"Perhaps I could pay him a little visit."

"Normally I wouldn't hesitate to agree, but you've already…" Excella paused here and brought her voice down to a whisper, "…killed Stanton. Do you know how inconvenient it'd be if Tricell started realizing that the people who target me are dropping like flies?"

For a second Wesker was there, staring down at her from besides the window.

Then, there was a blur of motion, and before she could finish closing her mouth, Excella found herself staring directly at her own shocked reflection in his sunglasses. She gave a gasp of surprise when he reached up and grabbed her by the chin with one gloved hand. He tilted her head gently upwards and smiled a smile that caused all the goose bumps to rise on her arms.

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

Excella shuddered involuntarily and she turned her head to the side, jerking out of his touch. She found herself breathing hard, and she hastily turned away so that he wouldn't see the fear in her eyes. Fear? Was it really fear? she thought to herself. Yes, it had to be, she reasoned, after all, her heart was thumping and her mouth suddenly felt drier than the Sahara desert.

"Alright. But be warned, Moretti's well protected. It won't be that easy, sneaking into his mansion. I assume that's what you plan on doing?"

"It won't be problem."

"If you say so," she paused and glanced sideways, unsure of what to say. Wesker, on the other hand, headed away toward the door.

His hand grazed the metal handle.

"When will we meet again?" she blurted out, unable to stop herself.

He grinned. "Let's just say I have an inkling that, this Moretti will invite you to an exquisite dinner next Tuesday. Perhaps to apologize to you, maybe even discuss some future, possible business plans? I'm sure you'll get the invitation in the mail."

With that, he stepped through the doorway and was gone, leaving Excella standing alone in the office. She took a few steps toward the door and peeked out. A researcher in a white lab coat who had happened to pass by waved at her, but other than him, there was no one else in sight.

As expected, I suppose, Excella thought with a shrug, closing the door and returning to her chair. She sat down, hearing it creak familiarly as her weight settled in. Instead of opening the computer to work, however, she took a moment to look around her office. Her eyes wandered over the water damaged, peeling wallpaper, at the shiny, worn carpet on the ground and at the numerous cracks in the ceiling. She ran a hand over her desk, feeling the dents and scratches it contained.

On any normal day, these observations would have made her broil in anger, motivating her to work harder, to out match those bastards who kept pushing her down.

Today, however, was different.

She smiled, grabbed a cigarette on her desk and lit in. Sitting back on her chair, she mulled over what color wallpaper to get, mentally reminding herself to call the interior designer the minute she got home.


Author's Note: A shorter chapter this time, my apologies. However, it was much easier to write for some odd reason. I guess my writer's block must be disintegrating.

By the way, does anyone else get the feeling that Excella's character is kind of like a warning from Capcom to the fan girls? It's like: "Look! Here's a person who fell in love with your blond megalomaniac and see what happens! She gets horribly killed and betrayed. Stop fangirling over the villain for goodness sake!" I don't think it helped much, however. XD

As always, thanks for the reviews guys!